This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/05/hugh-muir-diary-denis-macshane
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Diary | Diary |
| (about 11 hours later) | |
| • They knew him for his presence and his sharp suits; thus many noted the contrast between the ebullient figure of old and the forlorn figure seen ambling into the Commons yesterday. Dressed down, thoughtful, hopefully rueful, Denis MacShane keeps his Commons pass until the authorities receive notice from the Treasury that he is no longer an MP. That's a tad delayed because George Osborne is in Mexico. Until then, nothing to do but clear the office, mourn, regret. | • They knew him for his presence and his sharp suits; thus many noted the contrast between the ebullient figure of old and the forlorn figure seen ambling into the Commons yesterday. Dressed down, thoughtful, hopefully rueful, Denis MacShane keeps his Commons pass until the authorities receive notice from the Treasury that he is no longer an MP. That's a tad delayed because George Osborne is in Mexico. Until then, nothing to do but clear the office, mourn, regret. |
| • But don't count him out. Nothing is impossible. He was famously sacked by the BBC in 1977 for using a pseudonym to call the programme he worked on and accuse the Conservative politician Reginald Maudling of being a crook. Colleagues at the World Service, where he pitched up next, remember that he bounced back quickly. One recalls seeing a flyer bearing his photograph with the word "victim" in bold print beneath it. From then on, they styled him Victim MacShane. | |
| • After his broadside against windfarms, the word is out on the energy minster John Hayes. Big Dave must "decide if Hayes has a future in the energy department", demands Caroline Lucas, sage on all things green. But the minister isn't daft. Perhaps he speaks in the knowledge that "dark forces" stand ready to defend him. From the court circular, we learn that shortly after blowing his smoke about windfarms, Hayes was to be found at Clarence House with that other scourge of windfarms and backstage string-puller extraordinaire Prince Charles. Good friend to have. No wonder Hayes isn't scared of the Greens or Big Dave. | • After his broadside against windfarms, the word is out on the energy minster John Hayes. Big Dave must "decide if Hayes has a future in the energy department", demands Caroline Lucas, sage on all things green. But the minister isn't daft. Perhaps he speaks in the knowledge that "dark forces" stand ready to defend him. From the court circular, we learn that shortly after blowing his smoke about windfarms, Hayes was to be found at Clarence House with that other scourge of windfarms and backstage string-puller extraordinaire Prince Charles. Good friend to have. No wonder Hayes isn't scared of the Greens or Big Dave. |
| • Life's tough today. Tomorrow tougher. But there is a compensation: few face the challenges that now confront Lord Patten. How things have unravelled for the go-to guy of the good and great. He bought into the half-baked official Newsnight explanation for dropping the inquiry into the doings of Jimmy Savile, thus damaging his own credibility. And what does he do on quieter days? Well one part of his portfolio is to sit on the advisory board of his old school, St Benedict's in Ealing, whose former headmaster, Dom David Pearce, was jailed for five years in 2009 for sexual abuse offences. Three years have passed, but the issue never goes away. And how can it, given the involvement of that other troubled clergyman Laurence Soper, wanted in connection with alleged sexual offences committed at St Benedict's? Soper did a runner. Where he is now? Nobody knows. | • Life's tough today. Tomorrow tougher. But there is a compensation: few face the challenges that now confront Lord Patten. How things have unravelled for the go-to guy of the good and great. He bought into the half-baked official Newsnight explanation for dropping the inquiry into the doings of Jimmy Savile, thus damaging his own credibility. And what does he do on quieter days? Well one part of his portfolio is to sit on the advisory board of his old school, St Benedict's in Ealing, whose former headmaster, Dom David Pearce, was jailed for five years in 2009 for sexual abuse offences. Three years have passed, but the issue never goes away. And how can it, given the involvement of that other troubled clergyman Laurence Soper, wanted in connection with alleged sexual offences committed at St Benedict's? Soper did a runner. Where he is now? Nobody knows. |
| • Of course he is innocent until proven guilty, but doing a flit has done nothing very good for his reputation and not much for those around him. Two weeks have passed since we pointed out that he is still on the list of honorary fellows at St Mary's University College in Twickenham; but the web listing endures, despite, we are told, the continuing unease and protests of both staff and students. Somebody seems to be watching over him, wherever he is. | • Of course he is innocent until proven guilty, but doing a flit has done nothing very good for his reputation and not much for those around him. Two weeks have passed since we pointed out that he is still on the list of honorary fellows at St Mary's University College in Twickenham; but the web listing endures, despite, we are told, the continuing unease and protests of both staff and students. Somebody seems to be watching over him, wherever he is. |
| • First the death, then the shock. After the shock, the re-evaluation. Eric Hobsbawm is gone but his work lives on and amid the grief, the re-evaluation is ongoing. "Hobsbawm has, in my view, done more damage to young people than Jimmy Savile," declared the writer AN Wilson in the FT. Hyperbole apart, Savile will be the future yardstick for all manner of loathsome things. | • First the death, then the shock. After the shock, the re-evaluation. Eric Hobsbawm is gone but his work lives on and amid the grief, the re-evaluation is ongoing. "Hobsbawm has, in my view, done more damage to young people than Jimmy Savile," declared the writer AN Wilson in the FT. Hyperbole apart, Savile will be the future yardstick for all manner of loathsome things. |
| • Finally, it's hooray for Boris part 836. Yesterday he was named the most influential person in London by the Evening Standard for the third year running. He has the power and he wears it well. But only a fool would entirely trust him. Everyone has a favourite story and one retold at the weekend concerned a BBC radio series featuring the blond and other mayoral candidates. Tell us about your favourite Sunday in London was the theme. "I'd take my family to the Savoy for breakfast," he said, but with one look at his ashen-faced press officer he realised his mistake. "Can we do that again," he said, halting the recording. They talked and he started again. "We'd all start the day in the greasy spoon," he said. | • Finally, it's hooray for Boris part 836. Yesterday he was named the most influential person in London by the Evening Standard for the third year running. He has the power and he wears it well. But only a fool would entirely trust him. Everyone has a favourite story and one retold at the weekend concerned a BBC radio series featuring the blond and other mayoral candidates. Tell us about your favourite Sunday in London was the theme. "I'd take my family to the Savoy for breakfast," he said, but with one look at his ashen-faced press officer he realised his mistake. "Can we do that again," he said, halting the recording. They talked and he started again. "We'd all start the day in the greasy spoon," he said. |